Raymarine Digital Charts

[WolfgangSeaLife]

My Raymarine E120 plotter and GPS uses Navionics charts which are quite expensive.
Now I need new charts for the Chesapeake region. Are there any less expensive alternatives?
Thank you
Wolfgang

[DLLuce]

If your E120 uses the Lighthouse II software, which shows when you first start it, the computer can use the free NOAA charts, as provided by the Raymarine site. Check out the Raymarine forums for its chartplotters, and they will lead you to the site from which you can download the charts.

[Beausoleil]

Originally Posted by WolfgangSeaLife

My Raymarine E120 plotter and GPS uses Navionics charts which are quite expensive.
Now I need new charts for the Chesapeake region. Are there any less expensive alternatives?
Thank you
Wolfgang

Wolfgang,

I know you stated you have the E120 - but is it actually the older E120, or the newer e120 series? Raymarine's marketing arm really goofed when they came out with the new a/e series - so much confusion with the older A/E series units.

If you have the old E-series, you're basically out of luck - only Navionics works, and you're stuck with old chart chips obtained used, or buy new from Navionics.

As DLLuce said, the newer e-series can use Navionics charts or the newer Raymarine Lighthouse charts which can be downloaded from Raymarine's website. The Lighthouse charts are conversions of the free NOAA charts into Lighthouse format. Right now that's what we use in our e120 here in Virginia. When in the Caribbean we purchased the e120 with world-wide digital charts, and the embedded US charts are low. We downloaded the Lighthouse charts before heading back to the US.

[WolfgangSeaLife]

Thank you very much. Unfortunately I have the older generation of the e120.
Same problem with Radar D218 dome. Mine gave up, I bought the same model radar dome from a boater, but it is not compatible, this time due to the Radar dome being an older serial #, while the newer one is no longer serviced.
Compatibility between systems components is a major problem, probably not only with Raymarine.

So I bought new Navionics Charts.
Cheers
Wolfgang

[jtulls]

Have you looked into the Navionics updates card? It's a new product where you bring an old card (can be from any manufacturer) to a store, you can get the Navionics+ update card for around $100 or so -- certainly cheaper than buying a whole new suite of charts. If you go to the store, you end up with two SD cards, which is cool if you have a second plotter or want to swap back.

[Bill_E]

I'll resurrect this thread because I couldn't find an answer to my question through searching. I have an older Raymarine C80 chartplotter (or MFD as Raymarine calls them.) I am using Navionics Gold+ charts for Mid-America, Caribbean and Bermuda that I purchased in early 2009. I think it's about time to get new charts since we are embarking on a long trip through the Caribbean. I have several questions: First, have the Navionics charts changed much since 2009 or am I wasting money to upgrade? If I have to upgrade, what is the general experience with Navionics Update cards? Are they available in CF format (which my chartplotter needs)?? If I understand correctly, they are essentially a year of free internet access to all Navionics updates and changes for the area. What happens at the end of that year? Do they do the Mission Impossible, go up in smoke, routine?

I'd love to hear other folks experience with older chartplotters. Here's one set of comments but it seems to be mostly about Navionics apps for phones and tablets. http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ta-127861.html

Thanks
Bill

[Jman]

We have a C70, just bought the all USA and north Bahamas Gold+. Update to freshest data worked perfectly. If you upgrade firmware on the chart plotter I think they accept up to 16GB cards now.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Bill_E]

So, if I understand, you bought the update card? And it worked? Is it a CF card or did you have to get an adapter? I'm also wanting to use the card on my laptop with "Navigation Planner" and I've got the blue Navionics Multi card adapter so I hope that will work as well.

Bill

[Jman]

Yes, bought the CF card version.


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Bill_E]

Thanks for the effort. I've corresponded with one of the companies that sell the update charts. It seems that they are only good for the US and the Bahamas. Since I'm looking for charts and chart updates for the Windward and Leeward Caribbean islands, these updates really aren't of interest at this time.

I'm still a bit curious if anyone has comments about the changes in the two dimensional charts (Navionics) in the last 1-5 years for the Caribbean.

Thanks
Bill